This invention is made for the purpose of automatically dispensing food to animals at periodic intervals without the necessity of continual attention on the part of the owner or at times when the owner desires to be away from the home for several days at a time.
The patent literature shows many timed feeders have been designed in the past, the latest being U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,537, issued May 11, 1976, to Toshio Yugiri. However, none of these patents show the use of a plurality of food containers which are rigidly and removably mounted on a dispensing wheel which rotates and is indexed about a horizontal axis with each container having a hinged cover which is tripped by means of a timing and actuating mechanism so that the contents of the individual containers fall at predetermined times into a pet eating area. Other novel features will appear as the dispenser is further described.
The timed pet food dispenser enables the owner to feed hot, cold, damp, or dry food and to keep it from spoilage by means of insulated containers, which can be easily removed from the dispensing wheel, separately or as many as necessary, for cleaning and/or refilling.
Another feature of this invention is that it is portable, simply constructed and highly efficient in operation.
Still another feature of the invention is that it is attractively covered so that it may be permanently and visibly located in the living quarters of the owner without visually intruding offensively into the room. In this connection the dispenser cover has a top access opening for removing, cleaning, filling and replacing the food containers.
A still further feature of the invention is a relatively simple operating mechanism that permits the dispensing wheel to be rotated mechanically in one direction but is free to rotate in the opposite direction for rapid cleaning or removal of the individual food containers.